Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch Bars

Thanks to those of you who over the past few weeks have given me peanut butter recommendations. I’ve tasted my way through a few and have found one I really love called Skippy Natural. It tastes great, has a very smooth texture and just the right amount of sweetness. It didn’t taste like most natural peanut butters, so I checked Skippy’s FAQ to see just why they called it “Natural” and they said they this:

Skippy® Natural does not contain artificial ingredients and has been produced using traditional, minimal processing methods.

That’s good enough for me, because I do love this peanut butter even though it makes me feel disloyal to my old pal, Jif. But don’t worry, Jif. I was looking through September’s Rachel Ray magazine and they picked Jif as their favorite peanut butter in the “Crunchy” category, so way to go Jif! Just keep your eye on Skippy is all I gotta say.

Now back to that issue of Rachel Ray’s magazine, one of the recipes inside is from their editor Silvana Nardone who says she loves peanut butter and chocolate. It’s called Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch Bars and between you and me, that recipe is the reason I bought the magazine. This morning, I made a half batch of the crunch bars and they were delicious! Just watch the amount of powdered sugar you add, because I think the original recipe has too much and only used half.

Hopefully, the original recipe will be posted on Rachel Ray. For now, I found a copy of it here.

If you want to make a half batch, below is how I made it using a 9×5 inch square pan.

Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick foil or regular foil. If using regular foil, spray it with cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, melt 1 1/2 oz chocolate (or 1/4 cup chips) with 1/2 tablespoon of the butter. Stir in 1/2 cup of the peanut butter. When well mixed, stir in 1 cup cereal. Spread in bottom of pan and chill for 15 minutes or until firm.

Clean out saucepan and set over medium heat. Add 1 stick (4 oz) of butter and salt. Cook over medium until melted, then stir in remaining 1/2 cup of peanut butter. When smooth, stir in powdered sugar to taste. Pour a little less than half of the peanut butter mixture over the chocolate crispy mixture. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of cereal over peanut butter mixture, pressing it gently into peanut butter mixture.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt remaining 2 oz chocolate. Add melted chocolate to peanut butter mixture and carefully spread over Rice Krispies. This part is a little tricky, as the Rice Krispies want to go with the chocolate peanut butter mixture.

How fun and yummy looking! I can never get enough peanut butter and chocolate. For my taste, I think I’d try to make the chocolate a little darker, maybe starting with bittersweet rather than semi-sweet.

Holy Yumoly (If Rachel can make up words, so can I!) These look really good! Love the “homemade” crunch bar on the bottom. That is my 6 year olds favorite candy bar. I’ll have to try these sometime.
Skippy (any kind of Skippy) Natural has been my favorite for awhile. It tastes great and I love that it doesn’t have partially hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup–two very bad things! Go Skippy. shhh, don’t tell Jif. (I use SN for the kids, I actually eat a PB called Naturally More PB. Love it!)

Those do look great! And I’m also not a huge fan of no bake cookies, either!

(Oh, and I started making the peanut butter chipotle cookies last night, measured everything, creamed the butter/sugar, only to find out I was out of eggs! So disappointed. But they’ll get made today.)

I too am a fan of Skippy Natural as a way to have non-hydrogenated PB (especially a stable one that doesn’t separate as easily!) but it does have palm oil in it.
Someone at work told me that production of palm oils is one of the factors driving tropical deforestation. Guess you just can’t win any way you turn…
These treats look and sound awesome!

Uhhh soo good. Peanut butter and chocolate are meant to be together. These bars remind me of those PB Crunch Bar Brownies I made from your site. I can’t even remember the exact name, but I know they were in a Pillsbury bake-off.

Hello Anna: Oh it is nice to have you back;-) Your trip sounded and looked like so much fun. You are a terrific Mom and Fuzz looks like the best daughter!!! Thank you for sharing it…makes me want to go visit Chicago. On the food side—this recipe looks delicious!!

Wow, those look terrific! I’ve been looking for a way to use up some Rice Krispies, so maybe I’ll stop saving that Rachael Ray magazine for fall (I couldn’t quite stand for summer to over yet in Michigan . . .) and take a look at it.

Beth & Cammu, these taste as good as they look. I was pretty happy about that!

Katrina, when I saw this recipe I thought of you. I think it’s because I know you have a way with Rice Krispie Treats ;). Also, for some reason, Fuzz felt like eating peanut butter. I gave her a taste of 3 different ones and she chose the Skippy Natural.

Joe, I think you were one of the first people to encourage me to buy it.

Hannah, I’m sure you and your sister could take some great photos of these :).

Badger Reader, maybe the people at Skippy are good corporate citizens and for every bit of palm oil they use, they donate something to the rain forest fund….who knows. Whole Foods sells Palm oil too. I don’t think they’re out to destroy any rain forests. It’s probably more complicated and we’d need to research. I think there are differences in the types of palm oils.

Amy, Fuzz got one of the teachers she wanted. Hooray!

Jennifer, I can’t wait to hear what you think about the peanut butter chipotle cookies.

Baking Blonde, they are surprisingly sturdy with or without refrigeration.

Hi Janet. Thanks for saying that :). Every mom likes to hear it. And yes, I think you should visit Chicago.

Rachel, I dog eared quite a few recipes in that one. The Rachel Ray magazine is getting better and better in terms of content. I may subscribe.

Rachel, I haven’t gotten to that one yet. The last one I tried was the Peanut Butter & Company White Chocolate Peanut Butter. It has a unique and interesting flavor but is a little on the sweet side. Still, it’s tasty. I will look for the maple.

These remind me of those wonderful little pb and chocolate balls a friend of mine makes at Christmas. I don’t know the name of them but inside is pb and rice krispies and chocolate on the outside. oh man am I going to have to make these.

AH! Thank you for this post! I was at my in-law’s house flipping through the RR magazine and saw these, but I forgot to take the recipe with me. And then I looked for it online and I couldn’t find it. I can’t wait to try these!

Carole, yes! I knew you were a retired teacher :). I think Camilla told me that one time.

Heidi, there’s a similar peanut butter ball recipe on this site. It calls for crushed Butterfingers.

MS&S, I hope you try the recipe.

Beth, did you use the full amount of sugar? I used half the sugar called for in the recipe and was very happy with the results. The bars are still rich due to the butter, but they aren’t overly sweet.

Kelsey, I’m glad I could help ;). Hopefully RR will post the full batch version on her sight soon. I was suprised that the other site had it posted already. The half batch version is good too, of course.

I just saw a news story comparing peanut butters and it said that Skippy Natural actual does not have enough “peanuts” in it to be considered a real peanut butter–natural just means it doesn’t use synthetic ingredients.

Wow…I made these for Thanksgiving and they gave me a whole lot to be thankful for! They were a huge hit and I will be sure to make them many many more times! They have a nick name in my house “death by peanut butter” ….yes they are THAT good! I used good ol’ Jif and it never lets me down!